"We are here on Earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell you any different."–Kurt Vonnegut

This weekend I finished up some guys I’d been working on intermittently. I have just a few demons and devils left to paint now!

So first, a plastic miniature. This was made by Wiz Kids for the MageKnight line, and is a copy of a Ral Partha sculpt. Apparently Wiz Kids got a number of Ral Partha sculpts into its line, which I suppose was a consequence of RP going “out of business” after FASA bought them.

Left, a Games Workshop Lord of the Rings figure (he’ll be several of these pictures for scale). Center, the Wiz Kids figure, and right, an original Ral Partha demon in lead. He came in a set of three devils and you could choose from four heads for them. The head he got seems like the most obvious choice (the others were much smaller horned heads and a goat-head). Apart from having no integral base of his own, the plastic guy is a little smaller and his left hand is in a different position. It’s harder to see here but their knees and legs are in slightly different positions too. I’m not sure if there was actually a variant RP sculpt or if Wiz Kids just needed to alter him a little to fit into a mold (lead and metal figures are cast in soft rubber molds and can have a more complicated shape; plastic is usually cast from metal molds so the figure has to have no contours that would get caught in the mold).

The next guy is a really old Heritage devil, which was sold in a boxed set (as well as in blister, I think, in the Knights & Magick line). I got mine second hand somewhere.

I like the armor, which was uncommon in older devils, and the integral fire on his base.

Next up, a Ral Partha demon. This guy was sculpted by Tom Meier, and released as a “Ral Partha Import” in the USA and as a Citadel miniature in the UK. With the whip and sword, he’s obviously referencing Tolkien’s Moria balrog.

Here he is next to a Games Workshop Lord of the Rings figure, for scale.

I have two of this casting. One I bought ages ago; the other was given to me along with a bunch of other old lead and pewter minis, and is the one the one I finally painted here.

I kind of like the contrast here; sort of positive and negative.

You might be thinking, “yeah, but why would you want two balrogs?” You’re right, of course. You’d really want four to give a party a good challenge!

Left to right, a Grenadier Type VI demon; the “gargoyle” from the HeroQuest Milton Bradley/Games Workshop game, and the two RP/Citadel demons.

The last two demons are from the Grenadier “Action Art” Fantasy Fiends set. I had them painted sort of randomly before, with greenish fur on one and grey on the other they didn’t really look like demons so much as mutant bears or something.

I was lucky enough to get a third copy of this guy, heavily converted by Scottsz. He added a tail, built up the nose and arms, and covered the weird ridge on its back with fur. Here’s the backs:

These three should be the stuff of nightmares. Those claws would be 2 feet long in scale.

Now moving on from the demons, here’s a banshee made by Rafm.

And finally, I’m pleased to say the mushroom men finally have a leader. No more directionless wandering and disorganized assaults on villages. Behold the mushroom king!

Valhalla of the blogs

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All written content copyright Mike Monaco, 2008-2019, except where attribution to others is explicit or implied. Some images have been collected through Google Image Search and their use is not intended as a challenge to the copyright holder, and they are included for educational purposes only. I try to use public domain images, or my own photos or drawings whenever possible. If something that belongs to you appears here and you want it removed or better attribution provided, please let me know. If you want to use any of my intellectual property for your own project, let me know: mike period monaco atsymbol yahoo period com. I’ll probably just ask for attribution.